Fiction > Book editions > London, 1888 - Prince Otto

i88 PRINCE OTTO
what scant of drapery ; a great fire glowing
and flaming in the blue tiled hearth ; and the
daylight streaming through a cupola above. In
the midst of this sat the great Baron Gondre-
mark in his shirt-sleeves, his business for that
day fairly at an end, and the hour arrived
for relaxation. His expression, his very nature,
seemed to have undergone a fundamental change.
Gondremark at home appeared the very anti-
pode of Gondremark on duty. He had an air
of massive jollity that well became liim ; gross-
ness and geniahty sat upon his features ; and
along with his manners, he had laid aside his sly
and sinister expression. He lolled there, sunning
his bulk before the fire, a noble animal.
' Hey ! ' he cried. ' At last ! '
The Countess stepped into the room in
silence, threw herself on a chair, and crossed
her legs. In her lace and velvet, with a good
display of smooth black stocking and of snowy
petticoat, and with the refined profile of her
face and slender plumpness of her body, she
showed in sins^ular contrast to the bi^?, black
intellectual satyr by the fire.
' How often do you send for me ? ' she cried
* It is compromising.'
Gondremark laughed. ' Speaking of that,
said he, 'what in the devil's name were you
about? You were not home till morning/